Trump apparent assassination attempt: What we know about suspect Ryan Routh's party affiliation

After law enforcement said it was investigating an apparent attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, social media users quickly declared they knew the suspect’s registered voter party affiliation.

"Ryan Wesley Routh, the second Trump shooter. He looks like a MAGA republican but is a registered democrat," stated a Sept. 15 Facebook post.  

The phrase "second Trump shooter" refers to a different man having shot Trump in July.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.) 

It is possible that more details will emerge about Routh’s  political ideology as the court case against him proceeds, but two days after the West Palm Beach incident, our review of public records, Routh’s social posts and news accounts found that although Routh described himself as a Trump supporter-turned-Trump critic, his voter registration history showed no clear sign of consistent support of either party. He frequently gave voice to more left-leaning ideology. In 2023, he addressed Iran in his self-published book, writing, "You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me."

Routh was once a registered Democrat in North Carolina, but more than two decades ago he switched his party to "unaffiliated," according to voter records and a North Carolina county election official. He is also an active registered voter in Honolulu, but in Hawaii choosing political party affiliation is not part of voter registration. People can join political parties, but that’s between the voter and the party.

Besides his changing thoughts on Trump, Routh also expressed inconsistent views about other candidates and political issues, at times supporting Republican or Democratic candidates. 

The Daily Mail quoted Routh’s son, Oran Routh, as saying that he had had a falling out with his father. But Oran Routh described his father as someone who hates Trump as he and "every reasonable person does."

Ryan Routh appeared in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach Sept. 16 and was charged with possession of a firearm as a felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. 

The affidavit in support of the criminal complaint stated that, on Sept. 15, a Secret Service agent assigned to Trump’s security detail at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach saw a rifle poking through the tree line. An agent fired in the direction of the rifle. Routh fled, and agents found a loaded SKS-style 7.62 x 39 caliber rifle with a scope. 

A witness described the vehicle to law enforcement and the Martin County sheriff’s office stopped Routh the same afternoon.

The court document also says that Routh has a felony record. Routh was convicted in 2002 in Greensboro, North Carolina, of possession of a "weapon of mass death and destruction" following what the Greensboro News and Record reported was a three-hour armed standoff with local police. He was accused of wielding an automatic machine gun and barricading himself at a roofing company where he had worked. 

In 2010, he was convicted of multiple counts of possession of stolen goods. Routh was arrested 100 times over several years, the newspaper found.

The federal public defender’s office declined to comment.

The FBI said in a Sept. 15 statement that it is "investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination" against Trump.

Charlie Collicutt, elections director for Guilford County in North Carolina, told PolitiFact that a person with Routh’s name registered in 1988 as a Democrat and changed to unaffiliated in 2002.

"He’s been unaffiliated since then," Collicutt said.

Routh, who is listed as an "active voter" in North Carolina, lost his voter registration in 2002 following a felony conviction.  When his rights were restored, he reregistered in 2005, Collicutt said. Then the county removed him from its voter rolls again in 2010 following another felony conviction.

"When his rights were restored after that, he re-registered in 2012, and that is the current registration for him," Collicutt said.

In North Carolina, unaffiliated voters may choose any one political party’s ballot or a nonpartisan ballot (if available) in a primary election. In a general election, voters may vote for the candidate of their choice, regardless of party.

North Carolina State Board of Elections’ website shows that Routh voted in the March Democratic primary. He also voted in the 2012 general election, municipal elections in 2009 and the general election in 2008. 

Routh is listed as an "active" registered voter in Honolulu, too, according to Honolulu city and county Elections Administrator Rex Quidilla.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that Routh has lived in Kaaawa and worked in Hawaii since 2018. Based on the Hawaii State Constitution, voters’ political party affiliation is not part of their voter registration.

The only other information Quidilla said he was legally allowed to provide was Routh’s precinct number.

If voters wish to enroll with a political party, they do so through the individual party, which is not managed by the state of Hawaii. A person is not required to have a declared political party affiliation in order to vote in the state’s primary or general elections, but it may be required to participate in party-run presidential primaries, according to the state Office of Elections. Tamara McKay, state chair of the Hawaii Republican Party, said the party had no documentation showing Routh had ever joined their party. We did not hear back from the state’s Democratic party.

The Federal Election Commission website shows that a man named Ryan Routh in Kaaawa in 2019 and 2020 donated 19 times ranging from $1 to $25 for a total of about $140 to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates. Some of the donations were earmarked for Democratic presidential primary candidates including Tulsi Gabbard, Andrew Yang, Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke and Tom Steyer.

The Associated Press on Sept. 15 published a photo with a caption that said that it showed Routh’s house in Kaaawa, Hawaii. The picture included a truck with a Biden-Harris bumper sticker parked in the driveway, though it wasn’t clear whether the truck was his.

News reports said that in court Routh said he owns two trucks in Hawaii and helps support a son.

Routh wrote on social media that he voted for Trump in 2016, according to news reports.

In his 2023 book titled "Ukraine’s Unwinnable War," Routh criticized Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal. He wrote he previously supported Trump and was partly to blame for Trump’s presidency, describing his earlier support for Trump as a "terrible mistake."

In the book, which some retailers withdrew following the shooting, Routh wrote: "Iran I apologize. You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of the deal."

PolitiFact reviewed Routh’s X account before the platform suspended it the night of Sept. 15.

Days after a Pennsylvania gunman shot at Trump, killing rally attendee Corey Comperatore and injuring two others besides Trump, Routh wrote two separate posts addressing President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. He asked them to visit the injured and attend Comperatore’s funeral.

"Trump will never do anything for them....show the world what compassion and humanity is all about," he wrote in the July 17 post addressed to Harris.

On April 22, he wrote on X in support of Biden’s then-candidacy repeating one of Biden’s stump speech remarks about the stakes of the 2024 election: "Democracy is on the ballot and we cannot lose. We cannot afford to fail. The world is counting on us to show the way," Routh wrote.

But Routh also wrote in support of Republican presidential primary candidates Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy, addressing each of them on Jan. 9 with a plea to team up for a White House bid. "Join forces with Nikki Hailey now as VP to make a winning team..please," he wrote to Ramaswamy, misspelling Haley’s name. 

The majority of Routh’s posts concerned his support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. His posts and media interviews show he visited Ukraine in 2022 and espoused a fringe idea of drafting Afghan soldiers to help Ukraine and support for the shipment of U.S. weapons.

Nevertheless, Routh wrote in support of Ramaswamy, who opposed continuous aid to Ukraine, when he suspended his campaign in January, a sign of Routh’s inconsistent political views. 

Routh wrote: "You cannot quit. Why. You must stay on the ballot to the end. You must fight."

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird and Staff Writer Jeff Cercone contributed to this report.

RELATED: What was Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Wesley Routh’s connection to Ukraine?